The Tales of Magicians and Demigods: The Staff of Serapis
by Yugioash
Summary: Until I spotted the two-headed monster, I didn't think my day could get any worse. That is until I realized it was actually three headed staff for a Greek/Egyptian god. Now I have to team up with a magician name Sadie from killing the gods we know. Told in Annabeth's POV. Part 2 of so far 3 part 'The Tales of...' Version of Percy Jackson & Kane Chronicles Crossover series.


**A/N (I recommend reading this):** I'm going to MAKE THIS CLEAR. Just like I mention on my bio page about every other fanfiction I done: I DON'T OWN THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIAN SERIES or AND THE KANE CHRONICLES OR IT'S CHARACTERS as the rights goes to Rick Rioran. Also I suggest you guys start paying attention to the Author notes and my warnings that I left on EVERY chapter of EVERY story.

Sorry if this chapter is too much like the book.

This is a The Tales of version of the Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles crossover and takes place after 'The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus part of the series. So if you haven't read them yet read before reading this story as stuff that happened in them will be mentioned:

 **The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: the Early Adventures  
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Lightning Thief  
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Sea of Monsters  
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Titan's Curse  
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Magical Labyrinth  
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: the Stolen Chariot  
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: the Sword of Hades  
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: the Bronze Dragon  
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Last Olympian  
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: the Staff of Hermes  
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero  
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Quest for Buford  
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune  
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena  
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades  
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Blood of Olympus**

Also read this before this story if you haven't:

 **The Tales of Magicians and Demigods: The Son of Sobek**

Lastly, any one who wants to do a Demigods and Olympian reads story using 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' is allowed _as long as_ you inform me about it.

* * *

 **The Tales of Magicians and Demigods: The Staff of Serapis  
**

…Annabeth's POV…

Until I spotted the two-headed monster, I didn't think my day could get any worse.

My boyfriend Percy had swim practice this afternoon so I was on my own. Normally I be there to cheer him on, but I got an after school internship at a local architecture firm and Percy understood why I couldn't be there. For a demigod it's hard to find something that make us feel normal, but when we do, we try to stick with it.

Finally, around four in the afternoon, I'd walked through Washington Square Park on my way to the subway station and stepped in a fresh pile of cow manure.

I glared at the sky. "Hera!"

The other pedestrians gave me funny looks, but I didn't care. I was tire of the goddess's practical jokes. I thought she finally stopped this when Percy and I along with a bunch of my friends and I help save Olympus from the giants. But I guess she only stopped so that I would help save the world for her, and now that the world is saved, Hera decided to make my life miserable again.

By time I made it to the West Fourth Street station, I just wanted to take the F train uptown to the Jackson/Blofis family place where I'm staying at until Percy and I graduate, and maybe see if we could get dinner or something.

Then, I spotted the monster.

I'd seen some crazy stuff before, but this beastie definitely made her "What Were the Gods Thinking?" list. It looked like a lion and a wolf lashed together, but wedged butt first into a hermit crab shell.

The shell itself was a rough brown spiral like a waffle cone—about six feet long with jagged seam down the middle, as if it had been cracked in half, then glued back together. Sprouting from the top were the forelegs and head of a gray wolf on the left, a golden maned lion on the right.

I wonder if this was some kind of creation of Hecate, Goddess of Magic. Hecate been known for creating monsters with mismatch body parts. The life sucking mismatched _emposai_ are proof of that.

Whoever created the monster, it seemed that the two animals didn't look happy about sharing a shell. They dragged it behind them down the platform, weaving left and right as they tried to pull in different directions. They snarled at one another in irritation. Then both of them froze and sniffed the air.

Commuters streamed past. Most maneuver around the monster and ignored it. Others frowned or look annoyed.

I'd seen the Mist in action many times before, but I was always amazed by how the magical veil could distort mortal vision, making even the fiercest monster look like something explainable—a stray dog, or maybe a homeless person wrapped in a sleeping bag.

The monster's nostrils flared. Before I could decide what to do, both heads turned and glared directly at me.

My hand went for my knife, only to remember I left it along with my drakon blade sword and Daedalus Laptop back home. Not very wise on my behalf. Demigods normally shouldn't go anywhere without a concealed celestial bronze weapon, but the last few days been so calm, I didn't think of bringing any weapons with me. The closest thing to a deadly weapon was my backpack, which was loaded with heavy architecture books from the public library, and a yankees baseball cap that once was my cap of invisibility until I got in a fight with my mom Athena a while back and it lost it's power. Although Athena and I made amends, I have yet check to see if the cap regained it's magic, but I kept it just incase.

I steadied my breathing. The monster stood about thirty feet away.

Taking on a lion-wolf-crab in the middle of a crowded subway station wasn't my first choice, but if I had to, I would. I was a child of Athena: goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, and I had ten years of demigod training and experience of monster fighting. The ten beads on my leather beaded necklace was proof of that.

I stared down the beast, letting it know I meant business.

"Bring it on, Crabby," I said. "I hope you've got a high tolerance for pain."

The lion and wolf heads bared their fangs Then the floor rumbled. Air rushed through the tunnel as a train arrived.

The monster snarled at me. I could've sworn it had a look of regret in its eyes, as if thinking, _I would love to rip you to tiny pieces, but I have business elsewhere_.

Then Crabby turned and bounded off, dragging its huge shell behind. It disappeared up the stairs, heading for the A train.

For a moment, I was too stunned to move. I'd rarely seen a monster leave a demigod alone like that. Given the chance, monsters almost _always_ attack.

If this two-headed hermit crab had something more important to do than kill me, I wanted to know what it was. I couldn't just let the monster go, pursuing its nefarious plans and riding public transportation for free.

I glanced wistfully at the F train that would've taken me home. Then I ran up the stairs after the monster.

…

I jumped on board just as the doors were closing. The train pulled away from the platform and plunged into darkness. Overhead lights flickered. Commuters rocked back and forth. Every seat was filled. A dozen more passengers stood, swaying as they clung to the handrails and poles.

I couldn't see Crabby until somebody at the front yelled, "Watch it, freak!"

The wolf-lion-crab was pushing its way forward, snarling at the mortals, but the commuters just acted regular-New-York-Subway annoyed. They probably saw the monster as a random drunk guy.

I followed.

As Crabby pried open the doors to the next car and clambered through, I noticed its shell was glowing faintly.

I wonder if it been doing that before. Around the monster swirled red neon symbols—Greek letters, astrological signs, and picture writing. _Egyptian hieroglyphs_.

A chill spread between my shoulder blades. I remember something Percy had told me about a few weeks ago—about an encounter he'd had with some kind of Magician and a monstrous Crocodile of an Egyptian god. At first I didn't think much about it. I just figured it might have been some god the Romans adopted as their own (It wouldn't be the first time Romans adopted another culture other than Greek). But now…

I pushed through the crowd, following Crabby into the next car.

The creature's shell was definitely glowing brighter now. As I got closer, I started to get nauseous. I felt a warm tugging sensation in my gut, as if I had a fishhook in my belly button, pulling me toward the monster.

I tried to steady my nerves. I had devoted my life to studying Ancient Greek (and at time Roman) spirits, beasts, and _daimons_. Knowledge was my most important weapon. But this two-headed crab thing—I had no frame of reference for it. My internal compass was spinning uselessly.

 _Perhaps this is some form of Egyptian beast,_ I thought. Which meant Percy's story was true.

I wished I had backup. I had my cellphone, but even if I could get reception in the tunnel, whom would I call? Percy would have been the most logical choice, but unfortunately he doesn't have a cellphone since cellphone signals attract monsters. And even if I could get a hold of him, he might not arrive in time. And anyone else I can call were back at Camp Half-Blood on the north shore of Long Island.

Crabby kept shoving its way toward the front of the train.

By the time I caught up with it in the next car, the monster's aura was so strong that even the mortals started to notice. Many gagged and hunched over in their seats, as if someone had opened a locker full of spoiled lunches. Others fainted onto the floor.

I felt so queasy, I wanted to retreat, but the fishhook sensation kept tugging at my navel, reeling me toward the monster.

The train rattled into the Fulton Street station. As soon as the doors opened, every commuter who was still conscious stumbled out. Crabby's wolf head snapped at one lady, catching her purse in its teeth as she tried to flee.

"Hey!" I yelled.

The monster let the woman go.

Both set of eyes fixed on me as if thinking: _Do you have a death wish?_

Then it threw its heads back and roared in harmony. The sound hit me like an ice pick between the eyes. The windows of the train shattered. Mortals who had passed out were startled back to consciousness. Some manage to crawl out of the doors. Others tumbled through the broken windows.

Through blurred vision, I saw the monster crouched on its mismatched forearms, ready to pounce.

Time slowed. I was dimly aware of the shattered doors closing, the now empty train pulling out of the station. Had the conductor realized what was happening? Was the train running on autopilot?

Only ten feet away from it now, I noticed new details about the monster. Its red aura seemed brightest along the seam in its shell. Glowing Greek letters and Egyptian hieroglyphs spew out like volcanic gas from a deep sea fissure. The Lion's left forearms was shaved at the wrist, tattooed with a series of small black stripes. Stuck inside the wolf's left ear was an orange price tag that read $99.99

I gripped the strap of my backpack, I was ready to swing it at the monster, but it wouldn't make much of weapon.

 _Come on,_ I scowled at myself, _You were one of the Prophecy of Seven. One of the Seven greatest heroes of my generation. I can get through this._

With that self-encouragement, I decided to rely on my usual tactic when facing a stronger enemy. I started talking.

I know, talking doesn't seem to be a great tactic, but when I do, it seem to always buy me time to formulate a real plan.

"You're made of two different parts," I said "You're like… pieces of a statue that came to life. You've been fused together?"

It was total conjecture, but the lion's growl made me think I'd hit the mark. The wolf nipped at the lion's cheek as if telling it to shut up.

"You're not used to working together," I guessed. "Mr. Lion, you've got an ID code on your leg. You were an artifact in a museum? Maybe the Met?"

The lion roared so loudly, my knees wobbled.

"I guess that's a yes. And you, Mr. Wolf… That sticker on your ear… you were for sale in some antiques shop?"

The wolf snarled and took a step toward me.

"And the greek letters and Egyptian Hieroglyphs glowing on your back," I said, "You are somehow made from Egyptian and Greek magic, right?"

The lion roared and the wolf snarled which answered my question.

So this monster is a creation of Egyptian and Greek Magic. Even for me that is highly unusual and yet this beast is living proof.

Meanwhile, the train kept tunneling under the East River. Cold wind swirled through the broken windows and made my teeth chatter.

All my instincts told me to run, but my joints felt like they were dissolving. The monster's aura kept getting brighter, filling the air with mist symbols and bloody light.

"You… you're getting stronger," I noted. "You're heading somewhere, aren't you? And the closer you get—"

The monster's heads roared again in harmony. A wave of red energy rippled through the car. I had to fight to stay conscious.

Crabby stepped closer. Its shell expanded, fissure down the center burning like molten iron.

"Hold up," I croaked. "I—I get it now. You're not finished yet. You're looking for another piece. A third head"?"

The monster halted. Its eyes glinted warily, as if to say: _Have you been reading my diary_?

With this my courage rose. Finally I was getting the measure of my enemy. I'd met lots of three-headed creatures before. When it comes to mythical beings (at least Greek mythical beings), _three_ was sort of a magic number. It made sense that this monster would have another head.

Crabby had been some kind of statue, divided into pieces. Now something had awakened it using Greek and Egyptian magic. Now it was trying to put itself back together.

I decided I couldn't let that happen. I remember Percy saying he and his friend came up with a theory that the gods had kept the Greek and Egyptian stuff separated like how the gods kept the Greeks and Romans separated. It made sense now of what he was talking about. This creature and the magic that binds it is fundamentaly wrong.

"So tell me," I said. "Why are you even doing this? I mean, clearl the two of you don't trust each other."

The lion tilted its head and growled.

I feigned a look of shock. "Mr. Lion! How can you say that about Mr. Wolf?"

The lion blinked.

The wolf glanced at the lion and snarled suspiciously.

"And Mr. Wolf!" I gasped. "You shouldn't use that kind of language about your friend!"

The two heads turned on each other, snapping and howling. The monster staggered as its forearms went in different directions.

I knew I'd only bought myself a few seconds. I racked my brain, trying to figure out what this creature was and how I could defeat it. Sadly none of my lessons in Camp Half-Blood included how to fight Egyptian Monsters.

I considered getting behind it, maybe trying to break its shell; but before I could, the train slowed. We were pulled into the High Street station, the first Brooklyn stop.

The platform was strangely empty, but a flash of light by the exit stairwell caught my eye. A blond girl in white clothes was swinging a wooden staff, trying to hit a strange animal that weaved around her legs, barking angrily. From the shoulder up, the creature looked like a black Labrador retriever, but its back end was nothing but a rough tapered point, like a calcified tadpole tail.

 _The third piece_ , I thought to myself.

Then the girl whacked the dog across the snout. Her staff flared with golden light, and the dog hurtled backward—straight through a broken window into the far end of my subway car.

If I remember correctly, Percy did mention something about the kid saying there were more like him. I guess this girl was like that kid—some kind of Magician.

Whoever she was, the blonde girl followed the third piece into the subway and leaped in through the closing doors just as the train pulled out of the station.

I studied the other girl at the other end of the car, trying to assess what I was dealing with in case we have to fight together.

The newcomer wore white linen pants and a matching blouse, kind of like a karate uniform. Her steel-tipped combat boots reminded me of the ones the Romans wear—the kind that looked like they could inflict damage in a fight. Slung over her left shoulder was a blue nylon backpack with a curved ivory stick that looked like a boomerang hanging from the strap. But the most intimidating weapon was her white wooden staff—about five feet long, carved with the head of an eagle, the whole length glowing like celestial bronze.

I met the girl's eyes, and a feeling of déjà vu rocked me.

Karate Girl couldn't have been older than thirteen. Her eyes were brilliant blue, like a child of Zeus'. Her long blond hair was streaked with purple highlights. She looked very much like a child of Athena—ready for combat, quick and alert and fearless. I felt like I was seeing myself from four years ago.

Then Karate Girl spoke and shattered the illusion.

"Right." She blew a strand of purple hair out of her face. "Because my day wasn't barmy enough already."

British, I thought. But I didn't have time to ponder that.

The dog-tadpole and Crabby had been standing in the center of the car, about fifteen feet apart, staring at each other in amazement. Now they overcame their shock. The dog howled—a triumphant cry, like _I found you!_ And the lion-wolf-crab lunged to meet it.

"Oh no you don't!" I yelled as I leaped on Crabby's back, and its paws collapse from the extra weight.

The other girl yelled something like: _"Mar!"_

A series of golden hieroglyphs blazed in the air .

The dog creature staggered backward, retching as if it had swallowed a billiard ball.

I struggled to keep Crabby down, but the beast was twice my weight. It pushed up on its forelegs, trying to throw me off. Both heads turned and snapped at my face.

Fortunately I have plenty of experience harnessing wild pegasi at Camp Half-Blood. I manage to keep my balance while slipping off my backpack. I smacked the twenty pound of architecture books into the lion's head, the looped my shoulder strap through the wolf's maw and yanked it like a bit.

Meanwhile the train burst into the sunlight. We rattled along the elevated rails of Queens, fresh air blowing through the broken windows and glittering bits of glass dancing across the seats.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the black dog shake off its fit of retching. It lunged at Karate Girl, who whipped out her ivory stick and blasted the monster with another golden flash.

If this girl was one of those Magicians, I'm glad to be on her side at the moment, because I rather not be on the other side of her magic.

I did my best to subdue Crabby with my backpack, but the monster seemed to get stronger by the second while the thing's red aura weakened me. My head felt stuffed with cotton. My stomach twisted.

I lost track of time as I wrestled the creature. I only knew I couldn't let it combine with that dog-headed thing. If the monster turned into a complete three-headed whatever-it-was, it might be impossible to stop.

The dog lunged again at the Karate Girl. This time it knocked her down. I lost my grip on the crab monster from the distraction, and it threw me off—slamming my head into the edge of a seat.

My ears rang as the creature roared in triumph. A wave of red-hot energy rippled through the car. The train pitched sideways and I went weightless before losing conscious.

…

"Up you come," said a girl's voice. "We have to move."

I opened my eyes. The world was spinning. Emergency sirens wailed in the distance.

I was lying flat on my back in some prickly weeds. The blonde girl from the train station leaned over me, tugging on my arm.

I managed to sit up. I felt like someone was hammering hot nails into my rib cage. As my vision cleared, I realized I was lucky to be alive. About fifty yards away, the subway train had toppled off the track. The cars lay sideways in a broken, steaming, zigzag of wreckage that reminded me of a _drakon_ carcass.

I spotted no wounded mortals. Hopefully they'd all fled the train at the Fulton Street station. But still—what a disaster.

I recognized where I was: Rockaway Beach. A few hundred feet to the left, vacant lots and bent chain-link fences gave way to a yellow sand beach dotted with tar and trash. The sea churned under a cloudy sky. To my right, past the train tracks, stood a row of apartment towers so dilapidated, the might've been make-believe buildings fashioned from old refrigerator boxes.

"Yoo-hoo." Karate Girl shook my shoulder. "I know you're probably in shock, but we need to go. I don't fancy being questioned by the police with _this_ thing in tow."

The girl scooted to her left. Behind her on the broken asphalt, the black Labrador monster flopped like a fish out of water, its muzzle and paws bound in a golden rope.

I stared at the younger girl. Around her neck glinted a chain with a silver amulet—a symbol like an Egyptian ankh crossed with a gingerbread man.

At her side lay her staff and her ivory stick—both carved with hieroglyphs and pictures of strange, very _un-Greek_ monsters.

"Who _are_ you?" I demanded.

A smile tugged at the corner of the girl's mouth. "Usually I don't give my name to strangers. Magical vulnerabilities, and all that. But I have to respect someone who fights a two-headed monster with nothing but a rucksack." She offered her hand. "Sadie Kane."

"Annabeth Chase." We shook.

"Lovely to meet you, Annabeth," Sadie said. "Now let's take our dog for a walk, shall we?"

…

We left just in time.

Within minutes, emergency vehicles had surrounded the train wreck, and a crowd of spectators gathered from the nearby apartment buildings.

I felt more nauseous than ever. Red spots danced before my eyes, but I helped Sadie drag the dog creature backward by its tail into the sand dunes. Sadie seemed to take pleasure in pulling the monster over as many rocks and broken bottles as she could find.

The beast snarled and wriggled. Its red aura glowed more brightly, while the golden rope dimmed.

Normally I liked walking on the beach. The ocean reminded me of Percy. But today I was hungry and exhausted. My backpack felt heavier by the moment, and the dog creature's magic made me want to hurl.

Also, Rockaway Beach was a dismal place. A year ago, a massive hurricane had blown through the place. The damage was still obvious. Some of the apartment buildings in the distance had been reduced to shells, their boarded-up windows and cinder block walls covered in graffiti. Rotted lumber, chunks of asphault, and twisted metal littered the beach. The pylons of a destroyed pier jutted up out of the water. I think this was the action of Percy's immortal half-sister Kymopelia goddess of sea disasters since it happened before her shrine was build in Camp Half-Blood because up until then, the sea and weather were acting as if they don't want to be ignored. Now it looks like the sea was reminding us that we shouldn't ignore it again.

Finally we reached a derelict ice cream truck half sunken in the dunes. Painted on the side, faded pictures of long lost tasty treat s made my stomach howl in protest

"Gotta stop," I muttered.

I dropped the dog monster and staggered over to the truck, the slide down with m back against the passenger's door.

Sadie sat cross-legged facing me. She rummage around in her backpack and brought out a cork-stoppered ceramic vial.

"Here." She handed it to me. "It's yummy. Drink."

I studied the vial warily. It felt heavy and warm, like it was full of hot coffee. "Uh… this won't unleash any golden Egyptian magic in my face, would it?"

Sadie snorted. "It's just healing potion, silly. A friend of mine, Jaz, brew the best in the world. It should work on you."

That didn't make me feel much better about it. I had sampled potions before, brewed by children of Hecate. Usually they tasted like pond scum soup, but at least they were made to work on demigods. I'm just not sure if this will work on me.

"Trust me," Sadie said as if sensing my uneasiness. "You wrestled a monster. You survived that train wreck. You may not be a magician, but I'm sure it will work on you."

Then it dawn to me. Kane. Wasn't that the last name of the kid Percy met? What was it? Callen—no Carter. Carter Kane.

"Are you by chance related to Carter Kane?" I asked.

Sadie furrowed. "How do you know my brother?"

Brother? I thought Percy said Carter was African American. This girl doesn't look African American.

"I don't," I said, "but I think my boyfriend has. He fought a giant crocodile with someone he called a magician too. But he said Carter was African American at least."

Sadie laughed. "Yeah, that's probably my brother then. My dad was African American, my mom was English. I take after our mom while Carter takes after our dad."

"Ah," I responded.

I decided to try the potion. I uncorked the potion and drank it down. I have to admit, it didn't taste like Pond Scum soup. It actually tasted like warm apple cider. Instantly my vision cleared and my stomach settled.

"Wow," I said.

"Told you," Sadie smirked. "Jaz is quite the apothecary. So you think your boyfriend met my brother, right? And they fought a giant crocodile—the son of Sobek, right?"

"Yeah," I said and I ended up regretting it.

A glowing golden aura flickered around Sadie's head—a halo of hieroglyphs that resembles frowns, fist, and dead stick men.

"I swear the next time I see my brother, he'll be my punching bag for keeping everything from me."

"Ah." I had to fight the urge to scoot away from my new friend. I fear those glowing angry hieroglyphs might explode. "Awkward. Sorry."

"Don't be," Sadie said. "I'll rather enjoying bashing my brother's face in. But first, tell me everything about yourself. What are you? What can you tell me what really happened when your boyfriend met my brother and all that?"

I ended up telling Sadie about myself, and that I was the Daughter the _Greek_ Goddess Athena. I explained how I normally trained in a Greek demigod camp in Long Island every summer, and how the Greek gods still exist as well as their Roman personas, my part in the Prophecy of Seven as one of the seven greatest demigods ever existed to fight off the giants, just as the two previous greatest heroes Heracles and Dionysus done before (although I often think the stories might have overexaggerate on Dionysus' part). I also told her I had a pet Saber-tooth Spactus Cat that can transform to a harmless undead calico kitten to a fully grown Undead Saber Tooth Tiger name Small Bob.

Usually I wasn't so quick to trust, but I'd had a lot of experience reading people. I liked Sadie immediately: the combat boots, the purple highlights, the attitude… in my experience, untrustworthy people weren't so up-front about wanting to bash someone's face in. They certainly didn't help an unconscious stranger and offer a healing potion.

Once I was done explaining about my life, I explained how I'd spotted the two headed lion-wolf-crab at the West Fourth Street station an decided to follow it.

"So here I am," I summed up.

Sadie's mouth quivered before breaking down in a fit of giggles.

I frowned. "Did I say something funny?"

"No, no…" Sadie snorted. "Well… it is a _bit_ funny. I mean, we're sitting on the beach with you telling me that Greek Gods are real and there is a camp for demigods—which I believe by the way—and all the same time I can't help but think that just as I think m world can't get any stranger, it does."

"Yeah, I can relate," I said. "So what about you? What's your story?"

"Well, first, my brother and I are descendants of Pharohs and have magic powers, which we didn't know until a couple of years ago. My father merged his soul wth Osirus. I train at this place called the Nome of the House of Life with other descendants of the Pharohs in using our magic for the greater good. My uncle has taken over the House of Life and oversees hundreds of magicians around the world. My boyfriend, who is descendant of King Tut—"

"King Tut?" I asked. "The youngest pharoh in the Egyptian Empire?"

"Yeah. Anyway, my boyfriend turns out to be a hybrid magician boy/immortal god of funerals Anubis. I carry the spirit if Isis goddess of magic once in a while, my brother carry the spirit of Horus, Egyptian god of war once in a while too, and my cat turned out to be a Egyptian Cat Goddess who watches over my brother and me time to time, and when she's not her friend who happens to be a dwarf god in speedoes does."

My brain was spinning with everything Sadie just told me. I can see why Sadie was giggling earlier. It would be healthier than curling into a ball and sobbing.

"I think I'm starting to see why our gods tried to keep the fact both Egyptian Gods and Greek Gods are a secret from us. That's a lot to process," I said.

"Same goes to yours," Sadie said. "So do you really have a pet zombified Saber Tooth Tiger name Small Bob?"

"Yeah. And before you ask neither my boyfriend nor I named him," I said. "A good friend of ours actually took him in as a pet when we were in Tartarus, but he stayed behind to get my boyfriend and me back in the real world and Small Bob came with us in the process."

"I see." Sadie responded as if knowing where I am going. "Erm, what about this little doggie?" she picked up a tiny seashell and bounced it off the head of the Labrador monster, which snarled in irritation. "One minute it's sitting on the table in our library—a harmless artifact, a stone fragment from some statue, we think. The next minute it comes to life and break out of Brooklyn House. It shreds our magic wards, plows through Felix's penguins, and shrugs off my spells like they're nothing."

"Penguins?" I shook my head. "No. Forget I asked."

I studied the dog creature as it strained against its bonds. Red Greek and hieroglyphs swirled around it as if trying to form new symbols—a message I could almost read.

"Will those ropes hold?" I asked. "They look like they're weakening."

"No worries," Sadie assured me. "Those ropes have held gods before. And not small gods, mind you. Extra-large ones.

"Um, okay. So you said the dog was part of a statue. Any idea _what_ statue?"

"None." Sadie shrugged. "Cleo, our librarian, was just researching that question when Fido here woke up."

"But it has to be connected to the other monster—the wolf and the lion heads. I got the impression they'd just come to life too. They'd fused together and weren't used to working as a tea. The got on that train searching for something—probably this dog."

Sadie fiddled with her silver pendant. "A monster with three heads: a lion, a wolf, and a dog. All sticking out of… what was that conical thing? A shell? A torch?"

My head started to spin again. _A torch._

I flashed on a distant memory—maybe a picture she'd seen in a book.

As for the monster, I hadn't considered that it's cone might be something you could hold, something that belonged in a massive hand. But a torch wasn't right…

"It's a scepter," I realized. "I don't remember which god held it, but the three-headed staff was his symbol. He was… Greek, I think, but he was also somewhere in Egypt—"

"Alexandria," Sadie guessed.

I stared at her. "How do you know?"

"Well, granted, I'm not a history nut like my brother, but I _have_ been to Alexandria. I recall something about it being the capital when the Greeks ruled Egypt. Alexander the Great, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, he was the son of Zeus that conquered Egypt," I said.

"Seriously? He's a demigod like you?"

"Yes. Anyways, after he died, his general Ptolemy took over. He wanted the Egyptians accept him as their pharoh, so he mashed the Egyptian gods and Greek gods together and made up new one."

"Sounds messy," Sadie said. "I prefer my gods unmashed."

"But there was one god in particular… I can't remember his name. The three-headed creature was at the top of his scepter…"

"Rather large scepter," Sadie noted. "I don't fancy meeting the bloke who could carry it around."

"Oh, gods." I sat up. "That's it! The staff isn't just trying to reassemble itself—it's trying to find its master."

Sadie scowled. "I'm not in favor of that at all. We need to make sure—"

The dog monster howled. The magical ropes exploded like a grenade, spraying the beach with golden shrapnel.

The blast knocked Sadie across the dunes like a tumbleweed.

I slammed into the ice cream truck. My limbs turned to lead. All the air was forced out of my lungs.

If the dog creature had wanted to kill me, it could have easily.

Instead, it bounded inland, disappearing in the weeds.

I instinctively grabbed for a weapon. My fingers closed around Sadie's curved wand. Pain made me gasp. The ivory burned like dry ice. I tried to let go, but my hand wouldn't obey. As I watched, the wand steamed changing form until the burn subsided and I held a Celestial bronze dagger—just like the one I left home that I had for years.

I stared at the blade, then I heard groaning from the nearby dunes.

"Sadie!" I staggered to my feet.

By the tie I reached the magician, Sadie was sitting up, spitting sand out of her mouth. She had bits of seaweed in her hair, and her backpack was wrapped around one of her combat boots, but she looked more outraged than injured.

"Stupid Fido!" she snarled. "No dog biscuits for him!" She frowned at my knife. "Where did you get that?"

"Um… it's your wand," I said. "I picked it up and… I don't know. It just changed into the kind of dagger I left home."

"Huh. Well, magic items do have a mind of their own. Keep it. I've got ore at home and it never hurts to have a spare weapon or two."

She's right. Demigods loose weapons or run out of arrows all the time. And although this knife wasn't the last legacy of Halcyon Green, one of the previous owners of my knife, this one somehow felt just as special, like the wand took this form just for me.

"Now," Sadie said. "Which way did Fido go?"

"Over there." I pointed with my new blade.

Sadie peered inland. Her eyes widened. "Oh… right. Toward the storm. That's new."

I followed her gaze. Past the subway tracks, I saw nothing except an abandoned apartment tower, fence off and forlorn against the late afternoon sky. "What storm?"

"You don't see it?" Sadie asked. "Huh, must the kind of magic only Magicians can see. Hold on." She disentangled her backpack from her boot and rummaged through her supplies. She brought out another ceramic vial, this one stubby and wide like a face-cream jar. She pulled off the lid and scooped out some pink goo. "Let me smear this on your eyelids."

"Wow, that sounds like an automatic _no_."

"Don't be squeamish. It should be harmless for demigods—I think."

I wasn't reassured with the word _should,_ but I closed my eyes. Sadie smeared on the goop, which tingled and warmed like menthol rub.

I opened my eyes and gasped.

The world was awash in color. The ground had turned translucent—gelatinous layers descending into darkness below. The air rippled with shimmering veils, each one vibrant but slightly out of sync, as if multiple high-definition videos had been superimposed on top of one another. Hieroglyphs and Greek letters swirled around my head, fusing and bursting as they collide. I felt like I was seeing the world on the atomic level. Everything invisible had been revealed, painted with magic light.

"Do—do you see like this all the time?"

Sadie snorted. "Gods of Egypt, no! It would drive me bonkers. I have to concentrate to see the Duat. That's what you're doing—peering into the magical side of the world.

"I…" I faltered.

I was usually a confident person. Whenever I dealt with regular mortals, I carried a smug certainty that I possessed secret knowledge (although Percy used to joke that my pride is showing when I do). I understood the world of gods and monsters. Most mortals didn't have a clue unless they were born with the ability to see pass the magical veil that cover up most mystical stuff—the Mist. Even with other demigods I was one of two most seasoned veteran along with my boyfriend Percy. The two of us had done more than most heroes had ever dreamed of, and survived. Heck, my own siblings even started looking up to me after I became the only child of Athena not only to search for Athena's Parthenos and live to tell about it, but also free it from it's confines under Rome that allow Reyna daughter of Bellona from the Roman Camp to return it to the Greeks.

Now, looking at the shifting curtains of colors, I felt like six years old again, when I truly started learning how terrible and dangerous my world really was.

I sat down hard in the sand. "I don't know what to think."

"Don't think," Sadie advised. "Breathe. Your eyes will adjust. It's rather like swimming. If you let your body take over, you'll know what to do instinctively. Panic, and you'll drown."

I tried to relax.

I began to discern patterns in the air: currents flowing between the layers of reality, vapor trails of magic streaming off cars and buildings. The site of the train wreck glowed green. Sadie had a golden aura with misty plumes spreading behind her like wings.

Where the dog monster once lay, the ground smoldered like live coals. Crimson tendrils snaked away from the site, following the direction the monster had fled.

I focused on the derelict apartment building in the distance, and my heartbeat doubled. The tower glowed red from the inside—light seeping through the boarded-up windows, shooting through cracks in the crumbling walls. Dark clouds swirled overhead, and more tendrils of red energy flowed toward the building from all over the landscape, as if being drawn into the vortex.

The scene reminded of Charybdis, the whirlpool-inhaling monster I once encountered in the Sea of Monsters, which wasn't a happy memory. But it also made me think back to when I led a quest through Daedalus' Labyrinth.

During the quest, we ended up getting the help of our friend Rachel Elizabeth Dare who was a mortal with clear sighted and at the time the next oracle. She kept saying she was seeing trails in the Labyrinth that led us where we need to go, but I eventually just thought it was just her having visions of where to go. But now looking at the magical wavelengths, I wonder if Rachel actually did see a magical trail we couldn't. Maybe what I'm seeing is something clear sighted mortals see everyday.

Then there is the fact that Sadie calls this _Duat_. I wonder if the Mist and the Duat were related, or maybe even the same thing. The number of veils I could see was overwhelming—like a tapestry folded in on itself a hundred times.

I quickly push that thought aside. I'll figure that out later, but right now this is more important. Besides I can ask Percy's mom if she can see these veils when I go home since she herself is a clear sighted mortal.

"That apartment building," I said. "It's attracting red light from all over the place."

"Exactly," Sadie said. "In Egyptian magic, red is bad. It means evil and chaos."

"So that's where the dog monster is heading," I guessed. "To merge with the other piece of the scepter—"

"And to find its master, I wager."

I knew I should get up. We had to hurry. But looking at the swirling layers of magic, I was afraid to move. If I do, I fear I would drown.

Sadie offered her hand. Her eyes were full of sympathy. "Look, I know it's a lot, but nothing has changed. You're still the same tough-skinned, rucksack-wielding demigod you've always been. And now you have a lovely dagger as well."

I felt the blood rise to my face. Normally I'm the one giving pep talk.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course." I accepted Sadie's hand. "Let's go find a god."

…

A chain-link fence ringed the building, but they squeezed through a gap and but they squeezed through a gap and picked their way across a field of spear grass and broken concrete.

The enchanted goop on my eyes seemed to be wearing off. The world no longer looked so multilayered and kaleidoscopic, but that was fine with me. I didn't need special vision to know the tower was full of bad magic.

Up close, the red glow in the windows was even more radiant. The plywood rattled. The brick walls groaned. Hieroglyphic birds and stick figures formed in the air and floated inside. Even the graffiti seemed to vibrate on the walls, as if the symbols were trying to come alive.

Whatever was inside the building, its power tugged at me too, the same way Crabby had on the train.

I gripped my new bronze dagger, realizing it was too small and too short to provide much offensive power, but it kept me focused like Halcyon's knife did. Which is good. A child of Athena should never rely on a blade if she could use her wits instead. Intelligence won wars, not brute force.

Unfortunately, my wits weren't working very well at the moment.

 _Then just rely on your feelings,_ I thought to myself.

Over the pass year, when things defy logic, then go by your feelings. In fact, I got my friend Piper McLean, Daughter of Aphrodite to thank for teaching me about it. I'm surprise I haven't thought about it sooner.

"Hey you okay?" Sadie asked.

"Yeah, I was just reminding myself of something a friend of mine said when logic and wits isn't enough," I said.

"What was it?" Sadie asked.

"To rely on my feelings," Annabeth said. "Let my emotions know what to do instead of my brain."

"Huh, sounds like something my brother should learn," Sadie said. "Carter likes to read up on any detail of anything we face even though we never know when or what will attack us next."

I chuckled. "I was the same way, until recently I learn sometime logic isn't enough when it comes to the illogical. What about you What's your standard operating procedure?"

"Forge ahead," Sadie said. "Think on my feet. When necessary, blast enemies into teeny-tiny bits. Look at that door. You think?"

A set of steps led to a basement entrance. A single two-by-four was nailed across the doorway in a halfhearted attempt to keep out trespasser, but the door itself was slightly ajar.

This was too easy, which is never a good thing. But before I could say anything, Sadie trotted down the steps and slipped inside.

My only choice was to follow.

…

As it turned out, if we'd come through any other door, we would have died.

The whole interior of the building was a cavernous shell, thirty stories tall, swirling with a maelstrom of bricks, pipes, boards, and other debris, along with glowing Greek symbols, hieroglyphs, and red neon tufts of energy. The scene was both terrifying and beautiful—as if a tornado had been caught, illuminated from within, and put on permanent display.

Because we'd entered on the basement level, Sadie and I were protected in a shadow stairwell—a kind of trench in the concrete. If we'd walked into the storm on ground level, we would've been ripped to shreds.

As I watched, a twisted steel girder flew overhead at a racecar speed. Dozens of bricks sped by like a school of fish. A fiery red hieroglyph slammed into a flying sheet of plywood, and the wood ignited like tissue paper.

"Up there," Sadie whispered.

She pointed to the top of the building, where part of the thirtieth floor was still intact—a crumbling ledge jutting out into the void. It was hard to see though the swirling rubble and red haze, but I could discern a bulky humanoid shape standing at the precipice, his arms spread as if welcoming the storm.

"What's he doing?" Sadie murmured.

I flinched as a helix of copper pipes spun a few inches over my head. I stared into the debris and began noticing patterns like I had with the Duat: a swirl of boards and nails coming together to form a frame, a cluster of bricks assembling like Legos to make an arch.

"He's building something," I realized.

"Building what, a disaster?" Sadie asked. "This place reminds me of the Realm of Chaos. And believe me, that was _not_ my favorite holiday spot."

When she said that, I wonder if what she believe is Chaos and what I believe is Chaos is the same thing just with two separate personas. Sometimes that happens, especially if the gods been around one area that see them as totally separate beings from what they were originally like. In fact, that is why demigods are divided between Greek and Roman demigods.

"The storm isn't completely random," I said. "See there? And there? Bits of material are coming together, forming some kind of structure inside the building."

Sadie frowned. "Looks like bricks in a blender to me."

I guess that make sense in her mind. I been around Percy so much that I came to understand that no matter how smart someone can be, unless they know about architecture as much I do, they tend to get lost when I try to explain designs and architect to them. But I do.

Copper piping was reconnecting like arteries and veins in a circulatory system. Sections of old walls were piecing themselves together to form a new jigsaw puzzle. Every so often, more bricks or girders peeled off the outer walls to join the tornado.

"He's cannibalizing the building," I said. "I don't know how long the outer walls will last."

Sadie swore under her breath. "Please tell me he's not building a pyramid. Anything but that."

I wondered why an Egyptian magician would hate pyramids, but I shook her head. "I'd guess it's some kind of conical tower. There's only one way to know for sure."

"Ask the builder." Sadie gazed up at the remnant of the thirtieth floor.

The man on the ledge hadn't moved, but I could swear he'd grown larger. Red light swirled around him. In silhouette, he looked like he was wearing a tall angular top hat _à la_ Abe Lincoln.

Sadie shouldered her backpack. "So if that's our mystery god, where's the—"

Right on cue, a three-part howl cut through the din. At the opposite end of the building, a set of metal doors burst open and the crab monster loped inside.

Unfortunately, the beast now had all three heads—wolf, lion, and dog. Its long spiral shell glowed with Greek and hieroglyphic inscriptions. Completely ignoring the flying debris, the monster clambered inside on its six forelegs, then leaped into the air. The storm carried upward, spiraling through the chaos.

"It's heading for its master," I said. "We have to stop it."

"Lovel," Sadie grumbled. "This is going to drain me."

"What will?"

Sadie raised her staff. _"N'dah."_

A golden hieroglyph blazed in the air above us in what I guess was what she said.

And suddenly we were surrounded in a sphere of light.

My spine tingled. I'd been encase in a protective bubble like this once before, when Percy, Grover, and I used magic pearls to escape the Underworld. The experience was… claustrophobic.

"This will shield us from the storm?" I asked.

"Hopefully." Sadie's face was now beaded with sweat. "Come on."

She led the way up the steps.

Immediately, our shield was put to the test. A flying kitchen counter would have decapitated us, but it shattered against Sadie's force field. Chunks of marble swirled harmlessly around them.

"Brilliant," Sadie said. "Now, hold the staff while I turn into a bird."

"Wait. _What?"_

Sadie rolled her eyes. "We're thinking on our feet and relying on emotions, remember? I'll fly up there and stop the staff monster. You try to distract that god… whoever he is. Get his attention."

"Fine, but I'm no magician. I can't maintain the spell."

"The shield will hold for a few minutes, as long as you use the staff."

"But what about you? If you're not inside the shield—"

"I have an idea. It might even work."

Sadie fished something out of her pack—a small animal figurine. She curled her fingers around it, then began to change form.

I seen people turn into animals before. Heck, Percy had a distant nephew Frank who can change into any animal he wants. But it never got easier to watch. Sadie shrank to a tenth of her size. Her nose elongated into a beak. Her hair and clothes and backpack melted into a sleek coat of feathers. She became a small bird of prey—a kite, maybe—her blue eyes now brilliant gold. With the little figurine still clutched in her talons, Sadie spread her wings and launched herself into the storm.

I winced as a cluster of bricks plowed into my friend—but somehow the debris went straight through without turning Sadie into feather puree. Sadie's form just shimmered as if she were traveling under a deep layer of water.

I quickly realized Sadie must be in the Duat. She's flying on a different level of reality.

I wonder how a demigod could do that. If we could, no monster can touch us. But I guess that has to wait another day.

Right now I needed to move. I charged up the steps and into the maelstrom. Metal bars and copper pipes clanged against my force field. The golden sphere flashed a little more dimly each time it deflected debris.

I raised Sadie's staff in one hand and my new dagger in the other. In the magical torrent, the celestial bronze blade guttered like a dying torch.

Meanwhile the shell of the building started to groan. Mortar trickled from the walls and swirled into the mix like cotton candy tufts.

Sadie the hawk was still alive, flying toward the three-headed monster as it spiraled upward. The beast was about halfway to the top now, flailing its legs and glowing ever more brightly, as if soaking up the power of the tornado.

I dug deep into my memory, trying to remember the myth. Something Chiron taught me and Percy in camp. The three headed staff. The god of Alexandria, Egypt.

Then god's name came to me at last. I just hope I am right. After all, one of the first lessons you learn as a demigod: _names have power._ You never said the name of a god or monster unless you were prepared to draw attention.

I took a deep breath and shouted at the top of my lungs: "SERAPIS!"

The storm slowed. Huge sections of pipe hovered in midair. Clouds of bricks and lumber froze and hung suspended.

Becalmed in the middle of the tornado, the three-headed monster tried to stand. Sadie swooped overhead, open her talons and dropped her figurine, which instantly grew into a full-sized camel.

The shaggy dromedary slammed into the monster's back. Both creatures tumbled out of the air and crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs and heads. The staff monster continued to struggle, but the camel lay on top of it with its legs splayed, bleating and spitting and basically going limp like a thousand-pound toddler throwing a tantrum.

From the thirtieth-floor ledge, a man's voice boomed: "WHO DARES INTERUPT MY TRIUMPHAL RISE?"

"I do!" I yelled. "Come down and face me."

I didn't like taking credit for other people's camels, but I wanted to keep the god focused on me so Sadie could do… whatever Sadie decided to do. Then young magician clearly had some good tricks up her sleeve.

The god Serapis leaped from his ledge. He plummeted thirty stories and landed on his feet in the middle of the ground floor, an easy dagger throw away from me.

Not that I was tempted to attack.

Serapis stood fifteen foot tall. He wore only a pair of swim trunks in a Hawaiian floral pattern. His bod rippled with muscles. His bronze skin was covered in shimmering tattoos of hieroglyphs, Greek letters, and other languages I didn't recognize.

His face was framed with long, nappy hair like Rastafarian dreadlocks. A curly Greek beard grew down to his collarbone. His eyes were sea green—so much like Percy's that I got goosebumps.

Normally I didn't like hairy bearded dudes, but I had to admit this god was attractive in an older, wild surfer kind of way.

His headgear, however, ruined the look. What I had taken for a stovepipe hat was actually cylindrical wicker basket embroidered with images of pansies."

"Excuse me," I said. "Is that a flowerpot on your head?"

Serapis raised his bushy brown eyebrows. He patted his head as if he'd forgotten about the basket. A few wheat seeds spilled from the top. "That's a _modius_ , silly girl. It's one of my holy symbols! The grain basket represents the Underworld, which I control."

"Uh, you do?"

"Of course!" Serapis glowered. "Or I _did_ , and I will again. But who are you to criticize my fashion choices? A Greek demigod, by the smell of you, carrying a Celestial bronze weapon and an Egyptian staff from the House of Life. Which are you—hero or magician?"

My hands trembled. Flowerpot hat or no, Serapis radiated power. Standing so near him, I felt watery inside, as if my heart, my stomach, and my courage were all melting.

 _Get a hold of yourself,_ I thought. _You've met plenty of gods before._

But a Serapis was different. His presence felt fundamentally _wrong_ —as if simply by being here, he was pulling my world inside out.

Twenty feet behind the god, Sadie the bird landed and changed back to human form. She gestured to Annabeth: finger to lips ( _shh_ ), then rolled her hand ( _keep him talking_ ). She began rooting quietly through her bag.

I had no idea what she was planning, but I forced myself to meet Serapis in the eyes. "Who says I'm not both—magician _and_ demigod. Now, explain why you're here!"

Serapis' face darkened. Then, to my surprise, he threw back his head and laughed, spilling more grain from his _modius_. "I see! Trying to impress me, eh? You think yourself worthy of being my high priestess?"

I gulped. There was only one answer to a question like that. "Of course I'm worthy! I am the daughter of Athena and one of the seven greatest demigods to ever existed! I been in Tartarus and got out in one piece. Heck, I even met the pit-god himself and live to tell the tale! So the question is, are you worthy of my service?"

Normally I don't go bragging about my time in Tartarus. Heck I still have nightmares from Percy's and my time in that place. But hopefully it's enough to keep Serapis occupied.

"HA!" Serapis grinned. "You done all that, eh? Let's see how tough you are."

He flicked his hand. A bathtub flew out of the air, straight at my force field. The porcelain burst into shrapnel against the golden sphere, but Sadie's staff became so hot, I had to drop it. The white wood burned to ashes.

Great, I thought. Two minutes, and I've already ruined Sadie's staff. I hope she has a spare staff as well as wands back at her place.

My protective shield was gone. I faced a fifteen-foot-tall god with only a tiny dagger and a lot of attitude.

To my left, the three headed monster was still struggling to get out from under the camel, but the camel was heavy, stubborn, and fabulously uncoordinated. Every time the monster tried to push it off, the camel farted with gusto and splayed its legs even farther.

Meanwhile Sadie had taken a piece of chalk from her bag. She scribbled furiously on the concrete floor behind Serapis.

I recalled a quote Frank had once shared with me—something from Sun Tzu's _The Art of War._

 _When weak, act strong._

I stood straight and laughed in Serapis' face. "You think I'm defenseless without my shield? Hah! Your power doesn't even come close to the Pit. Heck, you don't even compare to his children the Giants, who the other seven great demigods and I help destroy over the summer."

The god's face glowed with outrage.

I was sure he would drop the entire whirlwind of debris on me, and there was no way I'd be able to stop it. I considered throwing my dagger at the god's eye, the way Rachel had once distracted the Titan Kronos, but at the moment, I don't trust my aim.

Finally Serapis gave me a twisted smile. "You have courage, girl. I'll grant you that. And you did make haste to find me. Perhaps you _can_ serve. You will e the first of many to give me your power, your life, your very soul!"

"Sounds fun." I glanced at Sadie, wishing she would hurry up with that chalk art.

"But first," Serapis said, "I must have my staff!"

He gestured toward the camel. A red hieroglyph burned on the creature's hide, and with one final fart, the poor dromedary dissolved into a pile of sand.

The three headed monster got to its forepaws, shaking off the sand.

"Hold it!" I yelled.

The monster's three heads snarled at me.

Serapis scowled. "What now, girl?"

"Well, I should, you know, present the staff to you, as your high priestess! We should do things properly!"

I lunged for the monster. It was much too heavy for me to pick up, but I stuck my dagger in my belt and used both hands to grab the end of the creature's conical shell, dragging it backward, away from the god.

Meanwhile, Sadie had drawn a big circle about the size of a hula-hoop on concrete. She was now decorating it with hieroglyphs, using several different color chalk.

 _This spell better be good for you to make it look pretty,_ I thought with frustration.

I managed to smile at Serapis while holding ack the staff monster that was still trying to claw its way forward.

"Now, my lord," Annabeth said, "tell me your glorious plan! Something about soul and lives?"

The staff monster howled in protest, probably because it could see Sadie behind the god, doing her top secret sidewalk art. Serapis didn't seem to notice.

"Behold!" He spread his muscular arms. "The new center of my power!"

Red sparks blazed through the frozen whirlwind. A web of light connected the dots until I saw the glowing outline of the structure Serapis was building: a massive tower three hundred feet tall, designed in three tapering tiers—a square bottom, an octagonal middle, and a circular top. At the zenith blazed a fire as bright as a Cyclopes forge.

"A lighthouse," I said. "The Lighthouse of Alexandria."

"Indeed my young priestess." Serapis paced back and forth like a teacher giving a lecture, though his floral-print shorts were pretty distracting. His wicker basket had kept tilting to one side or the other, spilling grain. Somehow he still failed to notice Sadie squatting behind him, scribbling pretty pictures with her chalk.

"Alexandria!" the god cried. "Once the greatest city in the world, the ultimate fusion of Greek and Egyptian power! I was its supreme god, and now I have risen again. I will create my new capital here!"

"Uh… in Rockaway Beach?"

Serapis stopped and scratched his beard. "You have a point. That name won't do. We will call it… Rockandria Serapaway? Well, we'll figure that out later! Our first step is to complete my new lighthouse. It will be a beacon to the world—drawing the deities of Ancient Greek and Egypt here to me just as it did in the old days. I shall feed on their essence and become the most powerful god of all!"

I felt like I'd swallowed a tablespoon of salt. " _Feed on their essence._ You mean, destroy them?"

Serapis waved dismissively. " _Destroy_ is such an ugly word. I prefer _incorporate._ You know my history, I hope? When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt—"

"He tried to merge the Greek and Egyptian religions," I said.

"Tried and failed." Serapis chuckled. "Alexander chose an Egyptian sun god, Amun, to be his main deity. That didn't work too well. The Greeks didn't like Amun. Imagine the son of Zeus picking an Egyptian sun god to be the main deity. The Egyptians of the Nile Delta didn't like it either. They saw Amun as an upriver god. But when Alexander died, his general took over Egypt."

"Ptolemy the First," I said.

Serapis beamed, obviously pleased. "Yes… Ptolemy. Now, there was a mortal with a _vision_!"

It took all of my will not to stare at Sadie, who had now completed her magic circle and was taping the hieroglyphs with her finger, muttering something under her breath as if to activate them.

The three headed staff monster snarled in disapproval. It tried to lunge forward, and I barely manage to hold him back. My fingers were weakening. The creature's aura was as nauseating as ever.

"Ptolemy created a new god," I said, straining with effort. "He created you."

Serapis shrugged. "Well, not from _scratch_. I was once a minor village god. Nobody had ever heard of me! But Ptolemy discovered my statue and brought it to Alexandria. He had the Greek and Egyptian priests do auguries and incantations and whatnot. They all agreed that I was the great god Serapis, and I should be worshipped above all other gods. I was an instant hit!"

Sadie rose within her magic circle. She unlatched her silver necklace and began swinging it like a lasso.

The three-headed monster roared what was probably a warning to its master: _Look out!_

But Serapis was on a roll. As he spoke, the hieroglyphic and Greek tattoos glowed more brightly.

"I became the most important god of the Greeks and Egyptians!" he said. "As more people worshipped me, I drained the power of the older gods. Slowly but surely, I took their place. The Underworld? I became its master, replacing both Hades and Osiris. The guard dog Cerberus transformed into my staff, which you now hold. His three heads represents the past, present, and future—all of which I will control when the staff is returned to my grasp."

The god held out his hand. The monster strained to reach him. My arm muscle burned. My fingers began to slip.

Sadie was still swinging her pendant, muttering an incantation. How long does it take to cast a stupid spell.

But I held on.

"The Ptolemaic dynasty…" I gritted my teeth. "It fell centuries ago. Your cult was forgotten. How is it that you're back now?

Serapis sniffed. "That's not important. The one who awakened me… well, he was delusion of grandeur. He thinks he can control me just because he found some old spells in the Book of Thoth."

Behind the god, Sadie flinched like she'd been smacked between the eyes. Apparently, this "Book of Thoth" struck a chord with her.

"You see," Serapis continued, "back in the day, King Ptolemy decided it wasn't enough to make _me_ a major god. He wanted to become immortal, too. He declared himself a god, but his magic backfired. After his death, his family was cursed for generations. The Ptolemaic line grew weaker and weaker until that silly girl Cleopatra committed suicide and gave everything to the Romans."

The god sneered. "Mortals… always so greedy. The magician who awakened me _this_ time thinks he can do better than Ptolemy. Raising me was only one of his experiments with hybrid Greek-Egyptian magic. He wishes to make himself a god, but he has overstepped myself. I am awake now. _I_ will control the universe."

Serapis fixed me with his brilliant green eyes. His features seemed to shift, reminding me of many different Olympians: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and yes, even my mother Athena.

"Just think, little demigod," Serapis said, "this lighthouse will draw the gods to me like moths to a candle. Once I have consumed their power, I will raise a great city. I will built a new Alexandrian library with all the knowledge of the ancient world, both Greek and Egyptian. As a child of Athena, you should appreciate this. As my priestess, think of all the power you will have!"

 _A new Alexandrian library._

I couldn't pretend that the idea didn't thrill me. So much knowledge of the ancient world had been destroyed when that library had burned.

Serapis must have seen the hunger in my eyes.

"Yes." He extended his hand. "Enough talk, girl. Give me my staff!"

"You're right," I croaked. "Enough talk."

I drew my new dagger and plunged it into the monster's shell.

…

So many things could have gone wrong, and most of them did.

I was hoping the knife would split the shell, maybe even destroy the monster. Instead, it opened a tiny fissure that spewed red magic as hot as a line of magma. I stumbled back, my eyes stinging.

Serapis bellowed, "TREACHERY!" The staff creature howled and thrashed, its three heads, trying in vain to reach the knife stuck in its back.

At the same moment Sadie cast her spell. She threw her silver necklace and yelled, _"Tyet!"_

The pendant exploded. A giant silver hieroglyph the same shape as her pendant enveloped the god like a see-through coffin.

Serapis roared as his arms were pinned to his side.

Sadie shouted, "I name you Serapis, god of Alexandria! God of… uh, funny hats and three-headed staffs! I bind you with the power of Isis!"

Debris began falling out of the air, crashing around me. I dodge a brick wall and a fuse box. Then I noticed the wounded staff monster crawling toward Serapis.

I lunged in that direction, only to get smacked in the head with a falling piece of lumber. I hit the floor hard, my skull throbbing, and was immediately buried in more debris.

I took a shaky breath. "Ow, ow, ow."

At least I hadn't been buried in bricks. I kicked my way out of a pile of plywood and plucked a six-inch splinter out of my shirt. Time like these I wish I had the Achilles' curse.

The monster had made it to Serapis' feet. I knew I should have stabbed one of the monster's heads, but I couldn't make myself do it. I always was a softie when it came to animals, even if they were part of a magical evil creature trying to kill me. Now it was too late.

The god flexed his considerable muscles. The silvery prison shattered around him. The three-headed staff flew into his hand, and Serapis turned to Sadie Kane.

Her protective circle evaporated in a cloud of red steam.

"You would _bind_ me?" Serapis cried. "You would _name_ me? You do not even have the proper language to name me, little magician!"

I staggered forward, but my breathing was shallow. Now that Serapis held the staff, his aura felt ten times more powerful. My ears buzzed. My ankles turned to mush. I could feel my life force being drained away—vacuumed into the red halo of the god.

Somehow, Sadie stood her ground, her expression defiant. "Right, Lord Cereal Bowl. You want proper language? _HA-DI!"_

A new hieroglyph of her words blazed in Serapis' face. But the god swiped it out of the air with his free hand. He closed his fist and smoke shot between his fingers, as if he'd just crushed a miniature steam engine,

Sadie gulped. "That's impossible. How—"

"Expecting an explosion?" Serapis laughed. "Sorry to disappoint you, child, but my power is both Greek and Egyptian. It combines both, consumes both, _replaces_ both. You are favored of Isis, I see? Excellent. She was once my wife."

 _"What?"_ Sadie cried. "No. No, no, no."

"Oh, yes. When I deposed both Osirus and Zeus, Isis was forced to serve me. Now I will use you as a gateway to summon her here and bind her. Isis will once again be my queen!"

Serapis thrust out his staff. From each of the three monster's mouths, tendrils of light shot forth, encircling Sadie like thorny branches.

Sadie screamed, which shocked me out of my shock.

I grabbed the nearest plywood—a wobbly square about the size of a shield. I remember my Ultimate Frisbee lessons from Camp Half-Blood and all the time Percy and I played fetch with Mrs. O'Leary—Percy's pet hellhound—using one of the camp's shields.

"Hey, Grain Head!" I yelled.

I twisted from the waist, using the force of my entire body. The plywood sailed through the air just as Serapis turned to look at me, and the edge smacked him between the eyes.

"GAH!"

I dove to one side as Serapis blindly thrust his staff my direction. The three monster heads blasted super-heated pumes of vapor, melting a hole in the concrete where I had been standing.

I kept moving and picking my way through mounds of debris that now littered the floor. I dove behind a pile of broken toilets as the god's staff blasted another triple column of steam in my direction, coming so close that I felt blisters rise on the back of my neck.

I spotted Sadie about thirty yards away, on her feet and staggering away from Serapis. At least she was still alive. But I knew she would need time to recover.

Fortunately, Serapis was more focus on me. I quickly whip out my former cap of invisibility. I haven't checked to see the magic was back but now was better than ever to see if it has as I placed it on my head.

"Child of Athena!" the god bellowed. "I will devour your life force! I will use you to destroy your wretched mother! You think you are wise? You are nothing compared to the one who awakened me, and even _he_ does not understand the power he has unleashed. None of you shall gain the crown of immortality. I control the past, present, and future. I alone will rule the gods!"

 _And thank you for the long speech,_ I thought.

By the time Serapis blasted my direction, turning the toilets into a porcelain heap, I was already invisible and halfway across the room.

I started searching for Sadie when the magician popped up from her hiding place, only ten feet away, and shouted: _"Suh-FAH!"_

I turned as a new hieroglyphs, twenty feet tall blazed on the wall behind Serapis.

"Annabeth, where are you?" Sadie asked looking around.

"Right here." I touch her arm. "I'm invisible thanks to a gift from my mother. What spell was that?"

 _"Loosen,"_ Sadie said. "I reckoned… well, making things fall apart is usually easier than putting them together."

There has to be a way to defeat him. Maybe the key is in the staff—which was spewing curses an all the language in the world like a time line from the crack where my knife penetrated.

That's when it hit me. "Past present and future. He controls them all."

"What?" Sadie asked.

"The staff is the key," Annabeth said. "We have to destroy it."

"Yes, but—"

Before she could ask Serapis broke free. My plywood Frisbee had broken his nose and blackened his eyes, leaving a mask like a raccoon's.

"Distract him!" I said as I run. Sadie must of got the cue because she yelled an encore: _"Suh-FAH!"_

Serapis yelled, "NO!" as another thirty-story section of wall collapsed on top of him. Whatever the spell was did the trick as only his staff stuck out with all three heads to roaring. For this to work I need to stab the Labrador head, which really is a shame. It looks the least threatful one. I quickly jumped on the staff and grabbed my knife as Serapis broke out.

"I'll kill you for that!" Serapis yelled, not noticing me.

"No you won't," Sadie said. "Because I won't let you control the world my mother sacrificed to save!"

"I like to see you try!" Serapis yelled. "You cannot kill me! Not even with that loosening spell!"

Maybe so, but this will. I thought as I manage to yank the knife out of the shell. I closed my eyes and prayed to my mother for guidance as I plunged the dagger into the dog's neck.

…

I expected an explosion.

Instead, the dagger was sucked into the dog's neck like a paper clip into a vacuum cleaner. Fortunately after I plunged the blade I got off the staff in time and rolled free as the dog howled, shrinking and shriveling until it imploded into the monster's shell. Serapis roared. He shook his scepter but he couldn't seem to let go of it.

"What have you done?" He cried.

"Taken your future," I said. "Without that, you're nothing."

The staff cracked open. It grew so hot I felt the hair on my arms start to burn. I crawled backward toward the gaping hole from Sadie's spell as the lion and wolf's heads were sucked into the shell. The entire staff collapsed into a red fireball in the god's palm.

Serapis tried to shake it off. It only glowed brighter. His fingers curled inward. His hand was consumed. His entire arm contracted and vaporized as it was drawn into the fiery sphere.

"I cannot be destroyed!" Serapis yelled. "I am the pinnacle of your worlds combine! Without my guidance, you will never attain the crown! You shall perish! You shall—"

The fireball flared and sucked the god into the vortex. Then it winked out as if it had never existed.

…

"Ugh," Sadie said.

We sat on the beach at sunset, watching the tide. Fortunately we seem to haven't attracted any mortals, although I wouldn't want to be here when someone find the building we were just in missing a wall.

I sipped my Ribena—a British drink that Sadie had summoned from her "personal storage area" in the Duat.

"Magic takes a lot of energy to use, but fortunately summoning snacks isn't hard magic," Sadie told me.

As thirsty as I was, the Ribena tasted even better than nectar.

The waves lapped at my feet, helping me relax, but still, I felt a residual disquiet from my encounter with Serapis—a humming in my body, as if all my bones become tuning forks.

"So what's this Book of Thoth?" I asked.

"The most dangerous collection of spells in the world," Sadie said. "A while back, my brother and I free this evil magician after he was back from the death. We needed his help, and didn't have a choice. And what he does? He escaped with the Book of Thoth. I wouldn't be surprise Setne was the one who summoned Serapis and the crocodile monster my brother and your boyfriend fought. Or if he's actually trying to combine Greek and Egyptian magic."

After the day I'd just had, that was the last thing I wanted to hear. But I have a feeling ever since I put on my hat and the magic worked, that this was a sign from Athena that more was to come.

"So Setne is a Magician like you," I said.

"Yes, but unforunatley for my brother and me, he's also our ancestor," Sadie said.

I looked at her like she was crazy. "You're his descendants?"

Sadie nodded. "On my mother's side I'm a descendant of Ramses the Great-Setne's father."

"And Setne wants to be a god," I said.

The wind off the water suddenly turned cold.

"A god…" Sadie shuddered. "That scrawny old codger with the loincloth and Elvis hair. What a horrible thought. Times like these, I prefer being related to the first Pharaoh: Narmer on my father's side than to be related to Setne."

I tried not to picture the guy Sadie just described, but unfortunately it was already seared in my mind. Needless to say I would rather see Otis the giant in a two piece Egyptian costume.

"If Setne's goal is immortality," I said. "waking Serapis won't be his last trick."

Sadie laughed with no humor. "Oh, no. He's only playing with us now. The Son of Sobek… Serapis. I'd wager that Setne planned both events just to see what would happen, how the demigods and magicians would react. He's testing his new magic, and our capabilities, before he makes his real bid for power."

"He can't succeed," I said hopefully. "No one can make themselves a god just by casting a spell. Only the gods themselves can make someone immortal."

Sadie's expression wasn't reassuring. "I hope you're right. Because a god who knows both Greek and Egyptian magic, who can control both worlds… I can't even imagine."

My stomach twisted like it was learning a new yoga position. In an war, good planning was more important than sheer power. If this Setne had orchestrated Percy and Carter's battle with that crocodile, if he engineered Serapis to rise so Sadie and I would be drawn to confront him… an enemy who planned so well would be very hard to stop.

"I'm starting to see why the Egyptian Gods and the Greek gods kept us apart," I said. "They didn't want something like this to happen. Not again. And what did Serapis meant: _you will never obtain the crown._ I thought he meant it like a metaphor. Then I remember what he said about Ptolemy I, the king who tried to become a god—"

"The crown of immortality," Sadie recalled. "Maybe a _pschent_."

I frowned. "I don't know that word. A _shent_?"

Sadie spelled it for me. "An Egyptian crown, looks rather like a bowling pin. Not a lovely fashion statement, but the _pschent_ invested the pharoh with his divine power. If Setne is trying to recreate the old king's god-making magic, I bet five quid and a plate of Gran's burnt scones that he's trying to find the crown of Ptolemyy."

I decided not to take that bet. "We have to stop him."

"Right." Sadie sipped her Ribena. "I'll go back to the Brooklyn House. After I smack my brother for not confiding in me about you demigods, I'll put our researchers to work and see what we can learn about Ptolemy. Perhaps his crown is sitting in a museum somewhere." Sadie curled her lip. "Though I _do_ hate museums."

"I'll do some research, too," I said. "My boyfriend Percy has a book on anything involving Greek Mythology. Maybe if Ptolemy had a part in both Greek and Egyptian Mythology, he would be mention in it. If not, I can ask my friends in Hecate cabin. If that fails—well, maybe I can get my mom to advise me."

Thinking about my mother made me uneasy.

Today, Serapis threatened to use us as gateways to draw Athena and Isis to their doom and after facing him, I can believe it.

Sadie's eyes were stormy, as if she were thinking the same thoughts. "We can't let Setne keep experimenting. He'll rip our worlds apart. We have to find this crown, or—"

She glanced into the sky and her voice faltered. "Ah, my ride is here."

I turned. I saw a flying boat—smaller than the _Argo II_ was—with painted eyes on the prow and a single white sail emblazoned with the _tyet_ symbol.

It settled gently at the edge of the surf. Sadie rose and brushed the sand off her pants. "Give you a lift home?"

I had a hard time thinking of how to explain to Percy and his mom of how I came home on a flying boat since parts of the _Argo II_ was either was destroyed or turned back into a mechanical dragon. Okay. Maybe not but I still answered, "Um, it's okay. I can make it back."

"Suit yourself." Sadie shouldered her pack, then help me up. Here, I'll give you my number that way we can stay in touch directly instead of with a hieroglyph on your palm."

"Sounds good," I responded.

We exchanged cell phone numbers.

"Just don't call unless it's urgent," I warned. "I don't know about you magicians and technology, but us demigods can't use cellphones or look up on the internet without attracting monsters."

Sadie looked surprised. "Really? I guess that means I can't send you any funny-face selfies on Instagram, then."

"Probably not," I said. "But if you want, I can use the Greek form of communication to contact you. It's safe and we sort of get a face-to-face conversation."

"That sounds good too, I guess," Sadie said before throwing her arms around me. "Until next time."

I was a little shocked to be getting a hug from a girl I'd just met—a girl who could just as easily have seen me as an enemy. But the gesture made me feel good. In life-and-death situations, I had learned, you could make friends pretty quickly.

I patted Sadie's shoulder. "Stay safe."

"Hardly ever." Sadie climbed in her boat and it pushed out to sea. Fog rose out of nowhere, thickening around the vessel. When the mist cleared, the ship and Sadie Kane were gone.

As I watch, a realization hits me that I never think about. My aunt and uncle in boston had always talked about the Norse Gods like they were real and they met them. But my dad stopped believing in the Norse gods when he met Athena. But now I think back, I wonder if they were real too.

I shook my head. Even if they were real too, whatever Setne was planning, it doesn't seem to involve them. Which means, I can worry about them another day, when this mess with Egyptian and Greek magic is taken care of.

I turned and set out across the beach, heading east on the long journey back to the road where I hope to catch a taxi cab home.


End file.
